1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to article carriers, and more specifically to a portable, adjustable, equipment-carrying device that can be transformed between a sling, for carrying large and awkward sized components, and a belt, for the easy transport of the device to alternate locations.
2. Discussion of Background Art
The task of transporting large, heavy, and/or awkward sized pieces of equipment to different locations is a problem faced by many. Additionally, many of today""s recreational enthusiasts find that the equipment needed for a specific activity may be large, heavy, and/or awkward shaped. Many recreational activities require a specific area or setting where the equipment pertinent to the activity can be used. Accordingly, the user will have to transport her equipment from one location to the next. Furthermore, the equipment may need to be transferred to and from a series of different locations.
Modular equipment such as in-line skates are large, heavy, and stiff and include a multi-wheeled chassis extending from the sole of the skate boot. Steps, rough terrain, safety considerations, and regulatory reasons may present obstacles requiring the user to remove his or her skates. Consequently, the user has to carry his or her skates across or past any obstacles. Correspondingly, elongated equipment such as snowboards are long, wide, large, stiff, and heavy. Snowboards also have to be carded when they are not being used as vehicles for gliding across snow. For instance, activities including; climbing hills, walking through a parking lot or other non-snow surfaces, and navigating steps provide a sampling of the many situations requiring the carding of snowboards. Similarly, elongated skateboards are also long, wide, large, stiff and heavy. As with snowboards and inline skates, skateboards need to be carded in certain circumstances. As noted above these circumstances can either be of a physical or regulatory nature.
Generally, article carriers used to carry and hold awkward-sized equipment are designed to accommodate specific components. As a result, many carriers of large and/or awkward sized equipment have specific features in order to carry such articles. For instance, a carrier designed to transport a modular piece of equipment by enclosing it in a xe2x80x9cpackxe2x80x9d of sorts may not be appropriate for carrying objects of an elongated nature. Many standard backpacks are simply not large enough to stow unusually shaped equipment. Furthermore, carriers for specific equipment often lack a degree of universality that allow the users to carry a host of different and unrelated equipment loads. An equipment carrier that is portable and can carry a variety of awkward-shaped pieces is required.
A number of article carriers have been designed with the purpose of minimizing the effort required to manually carry heavy and awkward shaped equipment loads. Many of these carriers seek to strap the carded equipment to the user rather than enclose the equipment in a pack. Furthermore, many of these carriers include a main belt to fit around the waist of the user, thereby ensuring the portable nature of the carrier. However, there are certain features among these types of carriers that limit the different types of loads and users the carrier can accommodate. For instance, many of the carriers have their equipment attachment facilities statically positioned at opposite ends of the main belt. The fixed placements of such facilities limit the different conformations and hence the different equipment loads that the carrier can transport. In an attempt to make these carriers further adjustable, some of the carriers are composed of more than one strap making up their main belt. This mechanism provides two straps that move in opposite directions relative to each other, thereby increasing and decreasing the main belt length and the distance between the two equipment attachment facilities. The accoutrements that mediate the articulation of the two straps, tightly secure the straps to one another so that they will not come apart when carding loads. Hence, any adjustment in the accoutrements and straps often requires manual manipulation, which can be difficult, complicated, and time consuming. In addition, it is often difficult to accurately adjust the length of the main belt to any specific length. Many times the user will have to make an adjustment, physically test whether the adjustment is roughly correct and then rework the adjustment to gain a more accurate and desirable belt length. Furthermore, when the equipment attachment facilities and hence the ends of the carrier are drawn closer together, these carriers tend to create a lot of slack in at least one of the two straps composing the main belt. The slack or excess length in the main belt may be positioned on the user""s dorsal side and thus may inadvertently catch on various obstacles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,470 to Cousins discloses an article carrier specifically designed to carry modular components such as roller skates. This carrier provides a single strap composing the main belt with snapper-like clamp buckles disposed at each end thereof. The buckles clamp on a given portion of the carded skate. This type of attachment is not secure, limits the variety of objects that can be carried, and may even damage a carded load as it physically clamps down on the carded article. The carrier is slung over the shoulder of the user with one carded skate in front of the user and the other in back. This type of carrier allows the carded items to dangle freely, apart: from each other in a nonsecure manner. In this arrangement, the carried items can swing out and knock back into the user or fall off the user""s shoulder completely.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,417 to Hirschkoff discloses an article carrier specifically designed to carry skis. The design consists of a two-strap mechanism with a plurality of equipment attaching loops at each end of the main belt. The loops are slidably attached to the main belt and can be drawn back from the ends thereby concealing the loops in a special pocket located at each end along the main belt. The loops are formed by hook and loop material placed on adjacent flexible straps. This material tends to wear quickly when exposed to heavy loads and come apart when exposed to certain sheering forces. As the loops are placed at opposite ends of the main belt, the number of different conformations the devise can adapt to is necessarily limited. The plurality of loops, including the hook and loop material between the members composing the loops, will undoubtedly create a bulky mass. The bulky mass of equipment attaching loops may interfere in sliding them in and out of specialized pockets. The device operates by carrying ski equipment along side the user with the equipment secured to the user around the shoulder in a purse-like fashion. As noted earlier, the Hirschkoff device employs a two-strap mechanism and is prone to some of the aforementioned disadvantages associated with such a design. Although these carriers free at least one hand of the user, they position the object at an angle that is perpendicular to the user. Elongated equipment carried in this manner can knock into objects in front and back of the user. In addition, when the user turns around in a circle, the carded equipment lying perpendicular to the user will take up a significant amount of area. The risk of injury to other individuals is increased especially in crowded situations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,083 to Chen discloses a portable device for carrying both modular components such as ski boots and elongated components such as skis. This device is composed of a single main belt with equipment attachment loops slidably attached to the main belt. Similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,417 to Hirschkoff, the carrying loops in the Chen device are formed by hook and loop self-gripping material. And like the former, encounters the same problems when exposed to heavy loads. The Chen device, however, configures the carrier to carry equipment around the waist of the user. Both modular and elongated equipment hangs from the user""s waist while employing this carrier. This method of transportation can be uncomfortable for the user as a walking motion will result in the user""s legs bumping into the equipment dangling off the user""s waist. In addition, carded elongated equipment still requires the user""s hand to stabilize the load. Hence the utility of the carrier is diminished, as the user is required to use his/her hands in conjunction with the carrier to support carded loads. Furthermore, this carrier places all the weight of the carded equipment around the waist of the user. This area on the human body does not bear carded weight loads as well as other areas like the shoulders.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,287 to Newman discloses a portable device for carrying a variety of differently shaped objects. The design consists of a two-strap mechanism with equipment attaching loops mounted at each end of the main belt. In addition to aforementioned disadvantages associated with such a design, the loops are limited in the method of articulation with carded equipment. The loops are adjustable in diameter and utilize a snapper buckle and a D-ring to wrap around carded objects. This design precludes the possibility of the loops securing equipment by articulating with a hole or aperture included in the equipment. The design would require the user to thread the snapper buckle through such apertures. This snapper buckle may be too large to fit through such apertures. The accessory also utilizes the snapper buckles to form an enclosed belt around the waist of the user when the accessory is not being actively used. As with U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,470 to Cousins, the snapper hooks are generally not designed to secure a belt around the waist of a user as tightly or comfortably as standard belt buckles. Furthermore, the Newman device utilizes four different slides point to adjust both the included straps and loops. These slides can not only complicate any required adjustments to the accessory, but also require manual manipulations involving both of the user""s hands. This manual manipulation is not easy and often can be time consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,545 to Benson et al discloses an article carrier designed for carrying a variety of differently shaped objects. The design consists of a one-strap mechanism with cargo attaching loops at each end of the main belt. Although, the Benson device uses only a single strap composing the main belt, thereby simplifying its use and adjustment, the device statically positions the cargo attaching loops at each end of the main belt, thereby limiting the number of different equipment loads the device can carry. The cargo attaching loops are designed to quickly and easily open and close around a variety of objects. The device further includes the ability of the encircling loops to self-tighten around carded objects. However, like U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,287 to Newman, the Benson device utilizes securing accoutrements on the cargo attaching loops that are large. These large accoutrements may narrow the possibility of the cargo attaching loops to secure any particular equipment by articulating with a hole or aperture included in the equipment. Hence, these devices are also limited in the number of different ways in which they can bind to the carded object. Heavy, elongated objects carried in an upright manner may potentially slip through the cargo attaching loops formed only around the carded object.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,991 to Neading discloses an article carrier specifically designed to carry skis. The design consists of a two-strap mechanism with equipment attaching loops at each end of the main belt. Like U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,417 to Hirschkoff, the Neading device includes loops that are formed by hook and loop material placed on adjacent flexible straps and hence is prone to the same disadvantages of the former. Furthermore, as the loops are fixedly attached to the ends of the main belt, the different conformations and equipment loads available to the carrier are limited. As noted earlier, the Neading device includes a two-strap mechanism composing the main belt. This two-strap mechanism adds certain adjustment features to the device. However, this type of adjustment can be complicated and is often difficult to obtain an accurate adjustment on the first try. For instance, if the user wishes to transport the carrier around his or her waist, the user will have to adjust the positioning of the two straps, rather than simply pulling extra slack from the belt as it is tightened around the waist of the user. Like U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,287 to Newman, this adjustment of the two straps requires manual manipulation, which is not easy, and often time consuming due to the multiple attempts required to make the proper adjustment.
Consequently, a need still exists for a carrier device, which will overcome the drawbacks of prior universal carriers. The ideal carrier should easily attach to a variety of heavy, large, and/or awkward shaped pieces of equipment in a manner that is comfortable and secure. Such a cadre should also be easily adjustable to fit a variety of users, and fully portable as to allow the use of the cadre at several alternative locations. Furthermore, the incorporation of a storage option for stowing unrelated personal affects such as keys and wallets would even further increase the functionality of the ideal carrier.
The accessory, an interchangeable equipment carrier sling/waist belt, provides an interchangeable belt and sling to carry equipment of a modular or elongated nature. Accordingly, several objects and advantages are derived from the accessory. One advantage of the present invention is its interchangeable nature. The accessory can adapt to two different conformations. The conformations having different utility, effectively impart a dual use feature to the accessory. The conformations are designated as contracted and extended. In the extended conformation, the present invention acts as a sling to carry various pieces of equipment. In the contracted conformation, the accessory acts as a waist belt. This waist belt is completely portable and eliminates the need to find a storage facility to stow the present invention when it is not being used as a sling (in the extended conformation).
Accordingly, several of the objects and advantages of the interchangeable equipment carrier sling/waist belt are as follows:
(a) To provide a sling that uses the shoulder as a fulcrum to balance the carded weight.
(b) To provide a carrier system for bulky awkward objects such as skates and snowboards yet leave space on the user to carry other goods. The user employing the present invention can still equip him/her self with other additional accessories for carrying other cargo, (i.e. a backpack).
(c) To provide a sling to carry bulky and/or heavy modular objects, such as skates and the like. The sling is configured such that one skate hangs on the front or ventral side of the user and the other skate hangs on the back or dorsal side of the user. This arrangement keeps the skates in the walking plane of the user, and does not add any extra width to the user such that it would impede his or her movement through normal or narrower thoroughfares. Additionally, the sling configured as such will also carry singular items like a grocery bag along the side of the user.
(d) To provide a sling equipped with stabilization strap. The stabilization strap connects each side (dorsal and ventral) of the sling together. The strap serves to restrict the distance that the carded articles can stray from each other and the user. Thus this strap minimizes the possibility that the carried articles will swing out and knock back into the user or fall off the user""s shoulder completely.
(e) To provide a sling to secure equipment of an elongated nature such as a snowboard to the user""s back. The sling articulates with the snowboard such that the bottom surface of the snowboard is strapped to the back of the user in an upright fashion.
(f) To provide a waist belt capable of being transported around the user""s waist. Hence, in the contracted conformation, the need to stow the article carrier when it is not being utilized as a sling (in the extended conformation) is eliminated.
Additional components can be added to the interchangeable equipment carrier sling/waist belt that would increase the functionality of the present invention.
A modified shoulder pad is one such additional component, which can be mounted on the interchangeable equipment carrier sling/waist belt. The modified shoulder pad consists of a storage bag attached to a shoulder pad. Accordingly, several additional objects and advantages of the interchangeable equipment carrier sling/waist belt will become available when the modified shoulder pad is attached to the present: accessory and are as follows:
(a) To provide the accessory with a mounted storage bag. This storage bag will stow the user""s personal effects such as wallets, keys, personal stereos, etc.
(b) To provide a shoulder pad on the sling, which will ease the burden of weight, placed on the user""s shoulder.
(c) To provide a storage facility which is both accessible and useable in either the extended or contracted conformations of the accessory.
(d) To provide a widened area on the shoulder pad. When the accessory is worn as a waist belt, this widened area is positioned at the user""s back around the waist region, and helps stabilize the accessory so that it does not circularly shift around the user""s waist.
Secondary equipment securing mechanisms are another component, which can be mounted on the interchangeable equipment carrier sling/waist belt. The secondary equipment securing mechanisms, consisting of both a self-overlapping strap and a two slotted slider buckle, are perpendicularly attached to the interchangeable equipment carrier sling/waist belt. Accordingly, some additional objects and advantages of the interchangeable equipment carrier sling/waist belt become available when the secondary equipment securing mechanism is attached to the present invention and are as follows:
(a) To provide additional securing means for carrying extra equipment. Additional equipment can be carded by articulating the flexible strap wrath an integral aperture inherent to the equipment. For example, when the user is required to remove his or her skates, the user will require a pair of walking shoes to further protect the his or her feet. Walking shoes and other equipment, such as a baseball cap or helmet, possessing an integral aperture can be secured in such a fashion and are thus hung from the belt of the interchangeable equipment carrier sling/waist belt.
(b) To provide additional securing means for carrying extra equipment. Additional equipment can be carded by synching down the flexible strap around the carded object. Hence, a pair of these securing mechanisms can secure equipment such as a pair of shoes stacked upon one another, a blanket, or a jacket. Each secondary equipment securing mechanism wraps around one end of the carded object.